Lillian Yarbo Movies

Filmed in 1947, Warner Bros. Night Unto Night wasn't released until 1949. Based on a novel by Philip Wylie, the film stars Ronald Reagan as John, a young scientist suffering from epilepsy (In 1951, Reagan would play another epileptic, baseball star Grover Cleveland Alexander, in The Winning Team). Viveca Lindfors co-stars as Ann, who is recovering from the loss of her husband. Both John and Ann head to the coast of Florida for rest and relaxation, and it is here that they fall in love. While John and Ann contend with their individual afflictions and private demons, their mutual friend Shawn (Broderick Crawford) dispenses philosophical advice. The psychological aspect of Night Unto Night seems dated and simplistic when seen today; even so, Reagan and especially Lindfors are convincing in their difficult roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lightweight musical comedy, Judy Foster (Jane Powell) and Carol Pringle (Elizabeth Taylor) are teenagers and best friends who find their loyalties tested when they both fall for the same good-looking older man, Stephen Andrews (Robert Stack). This situation is particularly troublesome for Judy, who already has a boyfriend, "Oogie" Pringle (Scotty Beckett), Carol's brother. Meanwhile, the girls join forces for a little sleuthing when Judy discovers that her father, Melvin Foster (Wallace Beery), has been spending time with Brazilian bombshell Rosita Conchellas (Carmen Miranda). Judy and Carol suspect hanky-panky, but actually Melvin is taking dancing lessons from Rosita as a surprise for his wife. A Date With Judy certainly offers your only opportunity to see Wallace Berry dance the mambo, and it also features a guest appearance by Xavier Cugat and his band. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Abbott and Costello's The Naughty Nineties offers a million laughs and a nickel's worth of plot. Most of the film takes place aboard a 19th century showboat, owned by kindly Captain Sam (Henry Travers). Bud Abbott plays the showboat's leading man Dexter Broadhurst, while Lou Costello is handyman Sebastian Dinwiddie. A group of slick gamblers (Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson and Joe Sawyer) cheat Captain Sam out of his boat, turning the place into a floating gambling palace, but Dexter and Sebastian foil the villains and save the day. The film is a virtual encyclopedia of wheezy but still hilarious comedy routines, many of them devised by veteran Laurel & Hardy and Three Stooges gagman Felix Adler. The film's highlight is a full-length performance of Abbott and Costello's verbal classic "Who's on First?"-and if one listens very closely, one can hear the cameramen and crew members laughing! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sgt. Andy Mason Jr. (James Ellison) is on the eve of shipping out from New York with his unit -- he's the son of Andrew Mason Sr. (Eugene Pallette), a wealthy, blustery Wall Street financier. While paying respects to his father and the latter's business partner, dithering fuss-budget Peyton Potter (Edward Everett Horton), at the Club New Yorker, he spots chorus girl Eadie Allen (Alice Faye) and turns on the charm and all of the allure that the ne'er-do-well son of a Wall Street millionaire can muster. That, however, doesn't impress Eadie, who ignores his invitation so she can do her patriotic bit helping servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen (or, as it's called here, the "Broadway Canteen"). Realizing how down to earth and genuine she is -- exactly the kind of girl who doesn't care about his money or social position -- Andy shows a bit of the boyish innocence he has hidden beneath the arrogance that comes from his background of wealth and privilege, and also some humility, hiding that background and his real name. Before the night and their "date" on the Staten Island Ferry are over, they're genuinely in love with each other, but that presents a problem -- since age 12, Andy has been unofficially "engaged" to Potter's daughter Vivian (Sheila Ryan), who expects to marry him, and he can't quite bring himself to hurt Vivian by telling her that he's met someone else.

Flash forward a few months, and Andy is on his way home on leave, a hero in the Pacific, and his father is so proud that he has to do something special to honor him, trying to rent out the Club New Yorker for a party but discovering that it's closed for rehearsals of a new production. Suddenly, his fatherly devotion, patriotism, and Wall Street experience all click together -- he brings the entire performing company, plus Benny Goodman's band, up to his and Potter's adjoining estates in Westchester to stage their act for his upscale neighbors and friends as part of the biggest War Bond rally ever seen (minimum admission a new 5,000-dollar War Bond), and in the process giving his son the biggest party he's ever seen. This leads to more comic turns for Horton's Potter, as a man who would make coffee nervous -- especially around show people -- but delights his ex-dancer wife (Charlotte Greenwood). That's also how Eadie and Vivian end up at the Potter mansion together, comparing notes on their remarkably similar respective fiancés. When the show's star, Dorita (Carmen Miranda), lets the cat out of the bag, it looks like Andy may lose Eadie, who can't bear to lose Andy but also won't even try to take him away from Vivian, who loves him too, but has loved him a lot longer. But while they sort out their romance, the show must go on, and go on it does. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Substantially, Lupe Velez' Columbia vehicle Redhead from Manhattan was the same as her previous RKO starrers-boisterous, unsubtle, and immensely profitable. La Lupe plays a dual role, as twin sisters named Rita and Elaine. Escaping from a torpedoed ship, Rita shows up in New York, where she takes the place of her Broadway-star sister Elaine, who's having problems with her marriage and needs to make a short but quick getaway. Naturally, neither Elaine's husband (Gerald Mohr) nor Rita's saxophone-player boyfriend (Michael Duane) are aware of the switch. Anyone who can't figure out what happens next should be drummed out of the theater in disgrace. And as always, a little of Lupe Velez goes a long, long way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal and producer/director Henry Koster had plans to make Diana Barrymore, the daughter of John Barrymore, into another Deanna Durbin with Between Us Girls, an ambitious sub-screwball comedy that undoubtedly owed some aspects of its existence to The Major And The Minor (in addition to anticipating elements of the Van Johnson/June Allyson vehicle Too Young To Kiss). Barrymore plays Caroline Bishop, an ambitious and gifted young actress and the daughter of actress Christine Bishop (Kay Francis). On a visit home, she discovers that her mother is involved in a serious romance -- which could lead to her re-marrying -- with businessman Steven Forbes (John Boles), but that he is under the impression that Christine is at least a decade younger than her actual age. When Forbes announces his intention to meet Christine's "young" daughter -- whom he presumes is on a visit home from boarding school -- in order to help her mother, Carrie pretends to be a 12-year-old; but she also meets his friend Jimmy Blake (Robert Cummings), who takes a paternal interest in the seemingly badly adjusted child, whom he believes is being neglected emotionally. This impression is only reinforced when Carrie must invent an alcoholic "aunt" to explain a picture in the Bishop home. The problem is that she genuinely starts to fall in love with Jimmy -- but by the time she recognizes this dilemma, it's too late to sort out the masquerade without admitting to dishonesty all around. And how will Carrie juggle her two "roles" within the family, and her own life as a theater actress with a production of Rain (in which she is to play Sadie Thompson) coming up? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The leader of the gang begins to have a change of heart after he begins falling for a local girl. He decides to use the "protection money" his gang has been pocketing to benefit the townsfolk. This feels good to the tough and thug-like gangsters who begin embracing the ideals of good citizenship in favor of a life of crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a popular radio marriage counselor tends to ignore his own advice and his wife to boot. One day, a handsome fellow sees the wife while on his boat and casually invites her to spend the day with him. She does, and they end up falling in love. This naturally disturbs her husband, who is soon inspired to prove that he does indeed love and need her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Technicolor sequel to 1939's Jesse James does without the services of the earlier film's star Tyrone Power, who after all was shot dead by that "dirty little coward" Bob Ford (John Carradine). Repeating his portrayal of western outlaw Frank James, Henry Fonda is promoted to top billing here. As depicted by scenarist Sam Hellman, Frank has retired from his life of crime to become a peaceful farmer, though he has never given up his search for the treacherous Ford. The killer and his cohorts are eventually rounded up, but are pardoned due to political intervention. That's when Frank slaps on six-guns once more to seek his own form of justice. Featured in the cast is Henry Hull as a top-of-his-lungs crusading newspaperman and Jackie Cooper as a headstrong young sprout who pays the ultimate price for his bullheadedness. Making her screen debut is Gene Tierney, in the role of an Eastern reporter who wants to tell Frank's true story to the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This remake of Penthouse (33) stars Walter Pidgeon as a smooth attorney with a few embarrassing friends. One of these is a gangster (Leo Carrillo) whom Pidgeon has successfully defended. When Pidgeon must go after his "pal" for murder, he is forced to go into hiding. He is also compelled to set up house with a sexy nightclub entertainer (Virginia Bruce), whose encyclopedic knowledge of the gangster's illicit activities will come in handy in court. It doesn't have quite the same bite as Penthouse, thanks mainly to tighter censorial restrictions; the nightclub singer, for example, was a hooker in the original. Both films were based on the same story by Arthur Somers Roche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Destry (James Stewart), son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn't believe in gunplay. Thus he becomes the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent (Brian Donlevy). His detractors laugh even louder when Destry signs on as deputy to drunken sheriff Wash Dimsdale (Charles Winninger). But the laughter subsides when Destry casually proves himself a crack shot, despite his abhorrence of firearms. Later, when saloon chanteuse Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich), Kent's gal, takes umbrage at Destry's indifferent reaction to her charms, she vows to make a fool of the new deputy. A huge moneymaker, Destry Rides Again served as a spectacular comeback for Marlene Dietrich, who two years earlier had been written off as "box office poison." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount's Café Society applies a glossy new coat of paint to a wheezy old plotline. Madeleine Carroll plays a debutante named Christopher, who after a whirlwind courtship marries newspaper photographer Crick O'Banion (Fred MacMurray). But when Crick finds out that he's been rushed to the altar so that Christoper can win a bet with society columnist Sonny DeWitt (Allyn Joslyn) he vows to teach her a good lesson. With the sub rosa help of Christopher's wealthy uncle (Claude Gillingwater Sr.), Crick contrives a latter-day "Taming of the Shrew" scenario. It's all been done before and would all be done again, but the stars are attractive and the production values top-rank. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There's That Woman Again was the second and last entry in Columbia's own spin on MGM's "Thin Man" series. Virginia Bruce and Melvyn Douglas star as Sally and Bill Reardon, husband-and-wife private eyes (Bruce took over from Joan Blondell, who costarred with Douglas in 1938's There's Always a Woman). This time around, the Reardons investigate a series of jewel robberies which lead to a brace of murders. At times the comedy threatens to overwhelm the mystery angle, but rest assured that Bill Reardon will have collared the guilty party (or, in this case, guilty parties) a few minutes before closing. In emulation of MGM's "Thin Man" art direction, the leading characters in There's That Woman Again live in a lavishly furnished apartment roughly the size of Rhode Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide